Many recent big technological advances in computing, communications, energy and biology have relied on very small materials, nanoparticles, with dimensions less than 1/1,000th the thickness of a sheet of paper. However, it ...

The research group of Professor Hiroaki Misawa of Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University and Assistant Professor Atsushi Kubo of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, have ...

By using a photoelectrode in which gold nanoparticles are loaded on an oxide semiconductor substrate, a research at Hokkaido University, Japan, has worked to develop a method of artificial photosynthesis that has received ...

For more than a decade, biomedical researchers have been looking for better ways to deliver cancer-killing medication directly to tumors in the body. Tiny capsules, called nanoparticles, are now being used to transport chemotherapy ...

A spy. A teacher. A bodyguard. That, in a nutshell, describes the different functions of a nanoparticle invented at the University at Buffalo that can improve therapies for autoimmune diseases, genetic disorders and other ...

The efficiency of many applications deriving from natural sciences depends dramatically on a finite-size property of nanoparticles, so-called surface-to-volume ratio. The larger the surface of nanoparticles for the same volume ...

Nanoparticle

In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit in terms of its transport and properties. It is further classified according to size: In terms of diameter, fine particles cover a range between 100 and 2500 nanometers, while ultrafine particles, on the other hand, are sized between 1 and 100 nanometers. Similarly to ultrafine particles, nanoparticles are sized between 1 and 100 nanometers, though the size limitation can be restricted to two dimensions. Nanoparticles may or may not exhibit size-related properties that differ significantly from those observed in fine particles or bulk materials .

Nanoclusters have at least one dimension between 1 and 10 nanometers and a narrow size distribution. Nanopowders are agglomerates of ultrafine particles, nanoparticles, or nanoclusters. Nanometer sized single crystals, or single-domain ultrafine particles, are often referred to as nanocrystals. Nanoparticle research is currently an area of intense scientific research, due to a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields. The National Nanotechnology Initiative has led to generous public funding for nanoparticle research in the United States.